Rug Care

If properly cared for, your fine handmade rug should last a lifetime.
Although prevention is the best medicine, professional
rug cleaning is indespensible for maximum enjoyment and
preservation of your oriental or antique rug.

How to Keep Your Rug Looking Great for Years to Come

The exquisite beauty of the handmade carpet make it one of the world’s
treasures. If properly cared for, your rug can last for generations and
be an endless source of pleasure in your home. Here are a few basics
to ensure your rug is afforded the best protection:

Have Your Rug Professionally Washed

Why Wash Your Rugs?

Oriental rug experts agree: the proper way to clean a rug is by hand,
in water, without harmful chemicals and machines. This hand cleaning
is the same method used for thousands of years. It is time consuming,
but preserves these beautiful works of art and is thus worth the time
and effort.

Washing your treasured handmade rugs is the best protection you can
give them. Careful washing will save your rugs from destruction by accumulated
dust, lint, dirt and sand.

Continued use of a carpet that contains common household soils and grit
accelerates the wear of the carpet by literally cutting the fibers and
encouraging mildew and pests. In-home surface cleaning of these carpets
does not remove the particles from the foundation of the carpet, and
is not recommended nor endorsed by any authority on oriental rugs.

What We Do

These are the steps we take when we accept your rug for cleaning:

1. Extensive, thorough inspection and documentation. The inspection
will reveal whether a rug is machine- or handmade, what its likely country
of origin is, and its fiber content. These factors are important to a
determination of the rug’s suitability for washing. Visible pre-existing
conditions such as tea-washing, old spotting attempts, tears, sun-fade,
residue from past cleanings, unraveling, excessive soiling, stains, and
other damage will be noted and discussed with the client prior to cleaning.
Each rug is digitally photographed and the photo is saved in the client’s
file.

2. Dye Testing. “Bleeding” of dyes is caused by many factors, made more
complicated by the fact that weaving techniques are being imitated by
rug producers in many countries. It is not possible these days to look
at a rug and determine by inspection alone that the dyes will not bleed.
This is why we test every rug before cleaning. If your rug has twenty
colors in it, we will do twenty tests. If we determine that your rug’s
dyes are likely to migrate, we will discuss alternative cleaning methods
with you.

3. Dusting. Particulate matter is removed from the rug prior to washing.
After the rug has been washed and is dry, we dust again.

4. Washing. Your rug is next washed with flowing water and given a gentle
bath. This bath thoroughly cleanses, refreshes and brightens the rug.
The shampoo is a neutral-balanced solution that has been customized for
your rug based on our testing of its color and fibers. The rug will also
be conditioned in appropriate cases.

5. Grooming. Your rug will be inspected, dusted, brushed and prepared
for return.

6. Drying. The water is removed from the rug by hand – no wringers or
rollers. Once as much water is removed as possible, the rug is hung to
dry naturally. This usually takes 24 to 48 hours. In some cases, we may
determine that it is safer to dry your rug flat.

7. Results. You will be delighted by your rug’s fresh, bright appearance!

Ongoing Maintenance - What You can Do to Preserve Your Rug's
Beauty

Vacuum Frequently

Remember that soil and dust particles
are acting like tiny razor blades sawing away at the fibers of your rug
when you walk on it. Try to vacuum often, and avoid the fringes. (The
fringes in most cases are an extension of the foundation of your rug.
You want to avoid damage to the fringes).

Rotate Your Rug

It is important to rotate your rug to avoid continually walking over
the same spots (remember the soil and dust acting like tiny scabbards).
You should also be on the lookout for sun fade, which can be mitigated
to some degree by rotation – although sun fade is something you want
to try to avoid altogether.

Try to Avoid Sun Fade

Sun fade is very difficult to correct, if not impossible. When you move,
or when you purchase a new rug, you should be conscious of how the light
from your windows will affect the rug. Be particular about skylights.
Also be aware that you may not see a full day’s effect if you are not
home during the day to observe how the light falls at different times.

We advocate a coating for your windows which will block much of the
harmful rays. We have had this done in our own home. If this is not possible,
consider curtains and shades. Once the rug becomes faded unevenly, it
is virtually impossible to even out the color.

Inspect Regularly

Particularly if any part of your rug is under furniture or in a dark
area, you should inspect periodically for moths. Moths will generally
be evident by their casings, which look like grains of rice. You should
look at the rug carefully for evidence of insects.

Address Emergencies Immediately

All oriental repair work is expensive because it is time-consuming and
very labor-intensive. It is therefore important that any damage to your
rug be addressed sooner rather than later. It is safe to say that time
is the enemy of oriental rugs. The longer a damaged area goes unrepaired,
the longer a spill or animal accident remains on the rug, the longer
your rug goes with moths eating away at it, the harder it will be to
correct, and in some cases, the stains will not come out and/or the repairs
will be very costly.

Never Put a Potted Plant on Your Rug

If you place a potted plant on your rug, you are asking for certain
trouble. We have seen many rugs sustain major damage from this practice.
It is virtually impossible to ensure that moisture will not make its
way to the rug, and the carpet will rot out from this moisture. This
is an extremely expensive repair. If you value your rug, never ever put
a potted plant on it.

Rules for Rug Storage

If, due to a move or remodel or some other reason, you need to roll
your rug up for storage, you must have it cleaned first. Then the rug
should be wrapped in a breathable, archival type paper – never plastic
– for storage. The practice of rolling up a dirty rug and placing it
a garage or some other dark spot is like advertising a free, open bar
rock concert to moths. They love dirty wool in dark places. They will
eat holes throughout the rug. This is also a time-consuming and costly
repair.

The Truth about Rugs and Dogs

Most of the damage we see to oriental rugs comes from puppies and young
dogs. There is a very short window period in which to address urine on
a rug before it turns to a permanent stain. Also, we have seen many rugs
damaged by chewing on the corners and the fringe. It is therefore our
strong advice that if you get a new puppy, or if you get a new rug when
you have a young dog, that you store the rug away from the dog’s reach
until it is old enough to be housetrained and out of the chewing stage.

Enjoy Your Rug!

Although this advice may impart the feeling that your rug is fragile
and requires a lot of care, the opposite is true. Oriental rugs are extremely
durable and will last a lot longer than wall-to-wall carpeting if you
take care of them. This is essentially: wash them periodically, vacuum,
and keep them away from harmful sunlight, moths and your young animals.
You will be able to enjoy your rug for your lifetime.

Pick up and delivery available throughout the Monterey Bay Area, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga, San Francisco, San Jose, Menlo Park, and Atherton.

"My parents and I have had our antique rugs cleaned by Artisan. My parents’
rugs were given to them by their parents, who received them as wedding
gifts around the early 1900’s. These rugs mean a lot to our family. There
is also a Chinese Aubusson, which my parents bought in China in the 1930’s.
All of the rugs came out looking great and refreshed.

Artisan was polite, prompt, knowledgable and did a wonderful job
on my family’s carpets. We will definitely use them again and have
already referred friends to Artisan."